Art Deco 2

Organized by Badan Warisan Malaysia.

Live Webinar Details
Date: Thursday, 4 August 2022
Time: 6:30 PM (Kuala Lumpur, GMT+8)
Topic: Of Eyebrows and Flagpoles: Art Deco in Malaysia
Speaker: Yvonne Leong and Simon Soon
Moderator: Ar. Anand Krishnan
Venue: Virtual – Zoom Webinar
Free Admission

About The Talk

In the 1920s, flourishing tin mines and rubber plantations brought in wealth to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of the Federated Malay States (FMS). Along with this came the political and economic aspirations of Malaya, keen to flex its newfound fame in the production of these resources. The industries’ demand for new buildings came during a time when the Art Deco style of architecture represented an optimism for the future through an admiration of the machine as a symbol of modernity and progress.

Beginning with the aid of a virtual map, participants will be able to explore the extent of Art Deco specimens across three Malaysian cities. This talk will zoom in on Kuala Lumpur to explore a series of 1930s buildings that were designed by Arthur Oakley Coltman of Booty, Edwards & Partners. Focusing on the Oriental building, the Rubber Research Institute, the Anglo-Oriental building, Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation building, and the Lee Rubber building, we will be on the lookout for ‘eyebrows’ and ‘flagpoles’ to identify some of Art Deco’s distinctively playful stylistic features.

About The Speakers

The speakers are Yvonne Leong and Simon Soon, who had worked together on a book that documented 100 years of the architecture practice of BEP. Simon Soon is Senior Lecturer at the Visual Art Program, Faculty of Creative Arts, University of Malaya, where he teaches the art histories of Southeast Asia. Yvonne Leong is an architect, former director of BEP Akitek and editor-in-Chief of BEP100, an authoritative monograph that details the firm’s centenary of progressive works.

About The Moderator

Anand was educated at the University of New South Wales, Sydney University and Harvard University. He has worked in various offices including Liu Thai Ker, Kerry Hill, Woods Bagot and M Moser and is the principal of Manufakture Design Sdn Bhd and Anand Krishnan Architect. Outside practice, he has written extensively on architecture and urban design and has been teaching senior design studios in local and overseas universities for over 10 years. Since 2019, he has been a Council Member of Badan Warisan Malaysia. In his spare time, he loves to sketch places he visits.